Railway draft rigging



Nov. 22, 1955 D. WILLISON 2,724,513

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Filed Feb. 12, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

DONALD W/LL/s0/v E C A; g BY 4%? 2 8 ATTORNEY Nov. 22, 1955 D. WlLLlSON2,724,513

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Filed Feb. 12, 1952 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR.DONALD W/LL/swv ATTORNE Y Patented Nov. 22, 1955 RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGINGDonald Wiliison, Maple Heights, Ohio, assignor to National Malleable andSteel Castings Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of OhioApplication February 12, 1952, Serial No. 271,230

Claims. (Cl. 213-50) This invention relates to railway draft rigging,and more particularly to the draft gear thereof.

The invention is particularly adapted for application to railway cars inwhich a very limited space is available for the draft gear, yoke andassociated parts. An example of such cars is the well-known hopper orecar having a very short wheel base as well as short overall length. Thefree space in the draft gear pocket of this car is so restricted that adraft gear and yoke assembly cannot be raised vertically into the draftgear pocketin the car in the usual manner. In fact, it is impossible toassemble a conventional draft gear and yoke into the car.

My invention provides a draft gear of simple construction having theproper cushioning capacity for ore cars of the above type and whichpermits easy assembly of the gear and its associated yoke into the car.The draft gear is preferably composed of rubber pads of the typedisclosed and claimed in the Willison-Spence application Serial No.138,614, filed January 14, 1950.

A feature of the invention resides in the novel construction of thefront follower of the draft gear, which permits the gear and yokeassembly during application thereof into a car, to be manipulated intoproper position within the draft gear pocket of the car. This followeris provided with lateral portions which are positioned rearwardly of theforward end of the follower and face the front draft lugs of the draftgear pocket in the car. After the gear and yoke assembly has been placedin position in the draft gear pocket, filler blocks are inserted betweenthe lateral portions of the front follower and the front draft lugs forproper functioning of the gear.

Other features and advantages ofmy invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view of a draft gear embodying the invention,applied to a typical hopper ore car construction having a restricteddraft gear pocket.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the constructionshown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modified construction.

Fig. 4 is a view showing the draft gear and yoke assembly in the processof being applied to the car.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the draft gear and yoke assembly in place inthe car.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a typical hopper ore carconstruction having spaced center sills to which are secured the frontstop lugs 12 and rear stop lugs 14. The draft gear pocket 16 is formedby sills 10 and stop lugs 12 and 14. Stop lugs 12 are integral withstriking casting 18 which is secured to the forward end of sills 10.Striking casting 18 comprises side walls 20 which are secured to centersills 10, top wall 22, and front wall 24. Extending across the lowerportion of the striking casting is a member 26 for supporting the carcoupler 28. Member 26 is detachably secured to the striking casting by ahorizontal bolt 30 which is received in side walls 20. Walls 20 areprovided with inward extensions 32 which underlie portions of member 26to provide additional support therefor. An end sill 34 is secured tofront States Patent fiice wall 24 of the striking casting and to centersills 10 and top plate 36. It will be noted that front stop lugs 12 areintegral with side walls 20 of the striking casting. .Center sills 10and side walls 20 are provided with elongated openings 38 for receivinghorizontal key 40 which operatively connects the coupler shank 42 andyoke 44.

Rear stop lugs 14 are formed integral with filler casting 46 which issecured to center sills l0. Filler casting 46 is recessed as at 48 toreceive the end portion 50 of the yoke. Also secured to center sills 10is the center plate 52 which underlies the end portion of the yoke. Itis to be understood that in the usual freight car underfr'ameconstructions the filler casting and the center plate are disposedrearwardly of the position shown in the present construction so that noportion of these members will underlie the draft gear yoke.

The draft gear as aforementioned is preferably composed of a series ofresilient pads 60, each comprising a metallic plate to the sides ofwhich is bonded a rubber cushion having a corrugated configuration. Allof the pads of the group have rubber cushions bonded to both sides ofthe metallic plate, except the end pads 62, which have a cushion securedonly to the inner face of each plate. In this manner rubber-to-rubberengagement exists between all of the pads of the draft gear. A rearfollower 64 is interposed between the plate of rearward end pad 62 andrear stop lugs 14. The upper and lower edges of follower 64 arechamfered as at 66 for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

At' the forward end of the gear is the front follower 68 having a baseportion 70 for engaging the plate of forward end pad 62. Extendingforwardly from base 70 is the coupler shank engaging portion 72 which isof a slightly lesser transverse dimension than the transverse spacing ofinner surfaces 74 on the front stop lugs 12. This construction providestransverse shoulders 76 which face front stop lugs 12 but are spaced asubstantial distance rearwardly thereof when the mechanism is in neutralposition, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The purpose of this construction isto facilitate application of the gear and yoke assembly into the car, aswill be hereinafter described. Filler blocks 78 are interposed betweenshoulders 76 and front stop lugs 12 and in effect form rearwardextensions of stops 12.

The yoke 44 and coupler shank 42 are so slotted that in neutral positionconnecting key 40 engages the forward end of the slot in the yoke as at80 and also engages the rearward end of the slot in the coupler shank asat 82. These slots are of suificiently greater length than the width ofkey 40 to allow the desired amount of unrestricted travel of the gearunder bufling loads. In buff the coupler butt urges front follower 68rearwardly to compress the draft gear. As the gear is compressedthe yoke44 and key 40 remain stationary until the forward end 84 of the slot inthe shank engages the key, after which the latter is carried rearwardlyby the shank. In draft the coupler pulling load is transmitted by thekey to the yoke which carries rear follower 64 forwardly to compress thedraft gear. Slots 38 in the center sills 10 and side walls 20 of thestriking casting are of sufficient length to' permit the desired amountof forward movement of key 40 necessary for unrestricted travel of thegear in draft.

The assembly of the mechanism is as follows: The cushioning pads andfront. and rear followers 68 and 64 are first assembled in the yoke 44,the pads being placed under several thousand pounds compression betweenthe rear abutment 88 and the front abutments 90 of the yoke. Next theyoke and draft gear, as a unit, is placed in the relative position shownin full in Fig. 4, with the rearmost portion of the yoke extending overthe forward portion of center plate 52.- It will be seen in Fig. 4 thatthe couplersupport member 26' hasbeen detached from the strikas s na. is t p rm tmanipulationof,t eu i to the position shown in dot-dash. Uponmanipulation of the unit to the latter position the lower bevelledportion of rear follower 64 is in engagement with rear. stop lug 14 asat 86 while the forward end'ofyoke 44.is just.

clear of extensions 32 on thestriking casting. It will be observed thatthe bevelled portion 66 of the-rear follower permits the yoke and gearassembly to assume a more rearward position than would otherwise bepossible It will also be observed that What may. appear to be aninterference between coupler shank. engaging portion 72 of frontfollower 68 and thestriking casting does not in fact exist, sinceportion 72 will clear the inner surfaces 74 on front stop lugs 12, asmay be seen in Fig. 1. From the dotrdash position the unit may now bemoved to its final assembled position, as shown in Fig. 5. The yokesupport plate 92 is then secured to center sills 10. Next the fillerblocks 78 are. raised upwards into place between shoulders 76 on thefront follower 68andfront stop lugs 12. These blocks are preferablysecured in place by means of welding along the upper edges thereof tothe center sills and to lugs.12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The blocksare preferably chamfered as at 94-50 that if due to manufacturingtolerances the space between shoulders 76 and lugs 12 is less than thewidth of the block,

the chamfer will serve to wedge the follower rearwardly and compresspads 60 and 62 additionally to permit the blocks to be forced upwardlyinto position. A safety supportplate 96is secured to sills 10 so as tosupport blocks 7.8 in the. event the weldfails. Coupler support member26 may. then be applied and the coupler shank 42 connected to the yokeby means of key 40. a i

The spacer blocks may be formed as shown in Fig. 3 in which the'block.98 is formed with a transversely-ex-- tending flange 99 which can besecured to the lower flange 100 of the center sill. Thisconstructioneliminates-the necessity of welding the blocks to the carstructure.

It will be apparent that a conventional: draft gear and yoke assembly,in which both front and rear followers'of the gear directly engage thefront and rear stop lugs 12 and 14, cannot be applied to the carstructure illustrated. :The centerplate 52 would preclude direct raisingof the gear and yoke unit into place and any otherrnanipulation of theunit would result in interference between the front My inventionmakesfollower and the front stop lugs.

possible easy application of adraft gear and yoke assembly whichotherwise could not be applied to the can While I have shown myinvention applied-to a particular ore car construction, it will beunderstood that the invention may be utilized in any similar carconstruction having a limited space for the draft gear, yoke andassociated parts.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation,. and I have no intention, in the useof suchv terms and expressions, of excludingv any equivalents of thefeatures shown and described. or portions thereof, but recognize-thatvarious modifications are possible withinathescope of the inventionclaimed. a

I claim;

1. In a railway draft rigging comprising a draft gear pockethaving frontand rear stop lugs and a center plate structure extending! forwardly .ofsaid rear stop lugs, a draft gear in said pocket, said. gear comprisinga pair of followers and cushioning means between said followers, therearward one of said followers engaging'said rear stop lugs, the forwardone of said followers having transverse portions facingsaidfront-stoplugs and spaced rearwardly therefrom, and. filler blocks:interposed between and in engagement withsaid portions and said frontstop lugs, said blocks being applied vupon assembly of said draft gearin said pocket, said forward follower having a yoke engagingportion.extending forwardly of said tirst-named per-' t n lus$. ...ths.. ss..qsfiiy e a n portion being disposed inwardly of the inner sides of saidfront stop lugs.

2. In a railway draft rigging comprising a draft gear pocket havingfront and rear stop. lugs and a center plate structure underlying aportion of an associated draft gear yoke, a draft gear in said pocketand being encircled by said yoke, said gear comprising a rear followerengaging said rear stop lugsand a front follower having a forwardlyextending portion engaging a forward abutment in said yoke, the sides ofsaid forwardly extending portion being disposedinwardly of thesidesofsaid-front stop lugs, said front follower having transverse shouldersfacing said front stop lugs and spaced" rearwardl'y therefrom, andfiller blocks interposed between and in engagement with saidshoulders-andsaid front stopdugs, aftersaid gear andyoke as a unit havebeen inserted in saidpocket.

3. A draft gear for application to a car structure comprising a draftgearreceiving. pocket having front andrear stop lugs and a, center-platestructure underlying the rear portion of an associatedtdraft gear yoke,said gear comprising. front .and rear followers and cushioning meanstherebetweem; said rear follower having stop lug engaging portions andhaving its lower rearward portion chamfered' for engagingsaidrear stop.lugs during the processof applying, said, gear into saidnpocket topermit increased reraward positioning .of said gear, said front followerhaving a forwardnportion, which is receivable between the inner sides ofsaid. front stop lugs during the process of applying saidgearintosaidpocket, said forward portion havinganend. surface for engagementwith the end of a coupler shank, said: front follower. also havingportions extending laterally beyond the sidesof said forward por tionand being spaced rearwardlyof said front stop lugs, saidlateral portionsbeing adapted for engagement with associated abutment members insertedin said pocketbetween said lateral portions andsaid front stop lugsafter said gear has been applied. therein.

4.- A draftgear comprising front and rear followers andcushioningrneans; interposed between said followers, said front followerhaving a forwardly extending abutment portion which is of alesservdimension in a transverse direction than the transverse spacing.of the inner sides of the tions, the forward surfaceof saidyoke-engagingportiort bei'ng: substantially in transverse-alignment withSaar nen front .stop lugs of an associated draft. gear pocket, theforwardsurface of said abutment portion being substantially in line withsaidrfront stop lugs when, the gear is in opera tive position in saidpocket,- saidfront follower having laterally extending abutmentsurfaces. spaced'rearwardly of said forward surface for engagement withassociated filler; means disposed adjacent the. sides of said abutmentportion. and in engagement with said front stop lugs.

5. A draft gearcomprisingfront andrear followers and.

cushioning; means interposedbetween said followers, said front followerhaving a forwardly extending abutmentportion, whi ch. is; of alesserdimension. in a transverse direction than the transverse spacing of theinner sides of the front stop lugs of an associated draft gear pocket,.said

front follower-having; laterally extending abutments havingusurfacesdisposed rearwardly of the forward end of said abutment portion, saidsurfaces facing and being spaced-rearwardl-y of the-front stop lugs ofsaid pocket for engagement-withassociated filler means interposedbetween said surfaces andifront stop lugs.-

I an-.29.

